149733-why-so-exiled
Page 1, Page 2 Content ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- There was a pretty big Chua fetish going on when Wildstar was first released. | |} ---- Fair enough, but they are like the "bush" we already have on most of us. ;) | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Actually they are a little bit like the horde, if u really wanna compare these factions. :P | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- Literally this. I'll take my Chua over a Aurin anyday even though their a beautiful race! Their almost like our version of elves! and illium toke me instantly after switching to Dominion. I just hate the lack of players on our side! | |} ---- While I'm not at all fond of of the garbage dump motif that Carbine foisted on Thayd* Illium is flat out sterile. It's the fine china that sits high in the cupboard that rarely gets used and you're bloody careful of because they've retired that pattern a few decades ago. Thayd may be a mess but it's got character. Worse, it's got a much more functional layout. The contract area and zone transports are far more compact and the market terminals are much more conveniently placed to the outdoor crafting areas, contract board and zone transports. While the Housing portal in Illium is a hair more convenient, both are still too far out of the way. * Even the resource strapped Exiles would have cleaned it up by now. | |} ---- ---- I actually prefer that in Illium. It makes it feel like an actual city than just a hub. I never really found it troubling to travel around in and everything feels nice and close together for me with the Taxi and Daily Quest hub right next to each other. Housing is just at one side, AH/CX is on the other side, and crafting is right through the middle of those two. I really dislike how Thayd's Housing portal is so far away from the taxi. The only convenience I think Thayd has over Illium is that the portals to different zones is right next to the taxi and are bunched far closer together. It's a bit of a walk in Illium. Aurin are always the majority of the players I see in the RP events I've been to on Exile side. Can always count on half of the players to be aurin, mordesh and exiles are usually tied, and the rare granok. While Dominion side, it's Draken and Mechari being the more popular choices. | |} ---- ---- Toric and his sword would like a word with you about his "boring space empire" The majority of Exile toons are Aurin, not the redneck space cowboys (exiles). At times Aurin make up a sold quarter of the whole games population (though it has gone back and forth, they've always been the dominant Exile race). | |} ---- ---- Which I hate, I know why Aurin have such an appeal, but I still hate them nor do I understand that appeal. And I am a semi furry, I SHOULD BE ALL OVER THAT RACE... But I am not. They have shit lore honestly, helped exiles, then got rekt, then ran to the exiles for help At least the granok fought and actually beat the dominion in a battle. Carbine, please let me make my precious main into a Draken :'( | |} ---- ---- During BETA around 20% of players were running Aurin. Multiple polls were taken. Of the ones with reasonable significant sample sizes Aurin were always top (usually between 18-20%), second was usually exiles, but was mixed in different polls. http://www.denofgeek.us/games/wildstar/236028/wildstar-by-the-numbers-most-popular-race-path-more http://strawpoll.me/1733136/r Since Beta, the Aurin population has only gone up. Asking for solid data from an MMO that doesn't release that info regularly (ever so far, maybe in the future) is a losing request; but we can get a good idea from polls and a large enough pool of experience in game. Just as a point, some of the most informative studies in academic history have relied on experiential and ethnographic information. | |} ---- ---- ---- Im sure it has a lot to do with aurin. Like it or not, the anime cat girl race type is very popular, not just in this game but in virtually any they are involved with. I guarantee you the races are by far the number one reason most people choose a faction, and the exiles having the cat people is going to skewer it in their favor. | |} ---- ---- Which is odd considering they are the less populated. | |} ---- ---- I didn't realize it was "supposed" to be either. Shall I run my replies before you first to be edited for possible derailment? | |} ---- ---- Exactly, if they decide to be smart come steam, they should add some good incentives to Dominion, AS WELL AS ONE WAY TRANSFERS Im never gonna stop fighting for that | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- The Exiles is the faction that wages war against / runs from the Dominion. Not the ones left on their planets. What you mean is that not whole races are part of The Exiles, that's true. But the Exiles as a faction are only the ones on Nexus. And that terrorist bullcrap... Not sure why people feel the need to belittle the other half of the playerbase by calling their faction terrorist or nazi. This is only a game, you don't have to hate the other faction you know (some people have characters in both factions, it's crazy, I know...). The whole war began when the Dominion oppressed (terrorized) their own citizens to the point of revolting, where they attacked military targets, and running since then. Basically the Dominion created the Exiles... And 300 years passed, none of the current exiles were there, it's like if the UK would still wage war against the US for breaking up. | |} ---- Well, the big difference being the US won their war. :P I've always felt the only exile race that can legitemately called terrorists are the Mordesh, with the black hoods having no problem attacking civilians to destabilize the dominion on Nexus. It even says right there in the lore pages the dominion sees the Aurin as a primitive misguided species that's worth exterminating. Edited February 20, 2016 by Jelletje | |} ---- Oh my, dummy dommie got butthurt... | |} ---- The goal on Arboria is resource extraction, not military action. The Aurin need not perish, and the Dominion is not actively exterminating them. Yes there forests may eventually be gone, but the Dominion is not interested in hunting down all the Aurin. They are interested in taking all the resources Arboria holds. And unlike the Dominion, recall that Victor successfully drove his species to extinction; with only ravenous and non-living mordesh left (and those un-living mordesh are a minute number compared to the population of billions Victor exterminated selling his elixer at a high price with no substantial testing) And yet he's correct. The Exiles could have gone anywhere in the outer rim. They could have went to any of the Marauder's planets, or to the stations / homeworlds of the Ekose. Instead they decide to go to the literal homeworld of the Dominion. They did that just as much for revenge as for "survival". And this is explicitly stated in the lore, esp. by Durek and Arwick. Every Race is a part of the Black Hoods. They have Aurin, Mordesh, Exile, and Granok members. And the Exiles became Exiles LITERALLY because of their terrorist attack on the Dominion.... There are actual Aurin ecoterrorists (the Sandthorns in Malgrave), and Aurin are destroying endangered species in Deradune to make a jungle there... as far as the Dominion is concerned, ALL the exiles are terrorists, and from an objective view, rightfully so. That doesn't mean the Dominion isn't also rightfully called oppressive to the Exiles, of course. Also, the Aurin are literally both primitive (they are the most primitive of the playable races) and misguided (Myala is the most naive of all the leaders in game). WTF are you talking about? This isn't even a little true. The Eldan were already considered gods as they were, now it comes to be that they ascended to true godhood as the Drusentity (a literal god by even the most biased players). Unlike Victor, the Eldan succeeded in their goal completely, Yes Nazarek made sure that the god he and 5 others became would end up as a clichéd dualist entity (just like the gods of the Abrahamic religions, every God has a Satan), but that is immaterial to the VC. Their beliefs were largely confirmed, the Eldan said they were grasping the power of the gods, and they literally and figuratively did. Naturally that was both for better and worse, but again, immaterial. The Dominion has more culture shock from the fact that their hero Tresayne Toria is still alive, and leads the Torine Blade Sisters (but even that isn't a major blow to the VC, and actually is a chance to reclaim another integral part of their heritage). Why is it that whenever people say *cupcake* *cupcake* like this I can essentially tell they've never played the Dominion questlines all the way through... It's like people make *cupcake* up about the Dominion to fill in their ignorance to the actual story. Voronia Cazalon and Toric Antevian already know the Drusentity is the literal god the Eldan became. They advise the Emperor on how to proceed through the course of the world story, and not once do Toric or Cazalon speak to it being a problem for their faith, but a danger for Dominion citizens. Seriously, get this *cupcake* out of here. Edited February 20, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- Just have to look at their latest game trailer to see this point. The Dominion get virtually no representation, except as appearing to be an ultimate endgame boss. Granted, we do get super saiyan Mechari, but the Dominion isn't even treated as a faction. Just generic npc bad guys. | |} ---- ---- While the Aurin do make up around 20% of all characters, that doesn't mean other races can't be made more attractive to players. Eg. fixing the Mechari voices and feet would be a start. Religion is frowned upon in the ToS here, but I'll mention since it came up as an analogy to the game lore, the god in the bible, (not the popular misconception of it taken from media with out reading it through) indeed is a dualist entity. Lucifer (the fallen angel you're thinking of) is not Satan. Satan is the ever present aspect that opposes god (again Satan =/= Lucifer). Just as the Entity is the ever present aspect which opposes Drusera. Edited February 20, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- Works for me. | |} ---- ---- Because the reasons for their popularity are the kinds of things you wouldn't want to bring up at the dinner table ;) And yes, on PvP servers more hardcore PvPers play Dom (or at least did before they left) | |} ---- ---- Avatus was PvE. But I think it's that way because Chua can be the popular PvP classes? I don't PvP so don't quote me on that, but that's what I was told. or maybe it's because we also had/have Enigma? I'm not into Anime or furries, I like Aurin because they just feel agile and their animations feel more fluid to me compared to the other choices on Exiles side, for the same reason that I enjoy Chua on Dominion side, but I am currently playing Mechari over there. What i don't like about Dominion is how illium feels. It doesn't have any character/personality like Thayd does. Everything you need is also spread out all over the place and Thayd has everything close by. Which, btw is the feedback that Carbine needs. What can they change to help build the Dominion population? I don't think the solution is deleting Aurin. :P | |} ---- As far as I'm aware, every poll I've seen and every server I've been on has had the majority of players with Aurin characters. Chua have never even broken 3rd (with Exiles and Cassians usually taking 2nd and 3rd) | |} ---- ---- The polls that I have seen posted here (perhaps it was you?) are seriously old. I'd like to see some current data. :) But at any rate, what can they do to make Dominion more appealing? And yes, back at launch there were chua everywhere on Avatus and Dominion dominated that realm (It was evident during Scorchwing) They aren't going to delete an entire race so what do you propose that they do? What can they do to shift people to Dominion? i don't want to see things like WoW's racials (ugh) but I know there needs to be incentive, but WHAT? | |} ---- How does "20% of the active characters are Aurin" translate to "people prefer exiles" or "Aurin are the reason people prefer exiles". Most people I know play Exile because their guilds / friends do, and I've never gotten the feeling that there are more Exiles because people "prefer" them. On Entity, if there is a faction imbalance now it's becoming much smaller. Some days Exiles run the WB train, others Dominion does, and I almost always see Raid runs going on, plus the contract events Dominion wise. Chua have never even been in the top 3 played races, so Idk why you think they invalidate the fact that Aurin comprise ~20% of the player characters in game. No I never took polls here. But there are some elsewhere that corroborate the numbers from BETA, and there are some more recent ones. There was a census project as well, but their data is essentially useless due to low participation and selection bias. AFAIK this isn't a problem anymore. At least on Entity, there are always plenty of Dominion around doing stuff. And in a PvE game, even with an imbalance, properly designed content isn't affected. It only becomes an issue in OW PvP / RvR type content... which essentially doesn't exist in W* | |} ---- No, it's so obvious that people choose the race they want the most, and that's usually aurin. I mean, wtf. When I play WS and I see an exile, there's a 99% chance they will be aurin. That's all I EVER see. There's even a ton of aurin avatars on this forum, probably more than any other race. Whenever I watch a video of someone playing WS, there's a good chance they will be playing as an aurin. | |} ---- Lorewise, the Dominion does see the Exiles as terrorists (They attack civilians and they almost tore down the empire). It's not inflamitory, it's simply the lore. The Exiles, see the empire as an oppressive state. That's the lore. "Nazi" is inflamitory the way "ISIS" would be. But the general descriptive terms from each POV can be accurate. To clear something up, the Exile POV is that the Dominion oppressed it's citizens. But that is an account given from the Exile POV. On Reddit, a more neutral account is given. Stating that the lowborn were actually "very well off". After 300 years, none of the Exiles from the beginning are around (except for Brightland and the Granok). But there has been continual fighting throughout the 300 years. New members are born and raised to fight the Dominion. Lormageedon says that both sides agree that reconciliation is impossible. All that said, I do agree. The hatred that some fans can't separate out of the game does make it difficult to discuss the lore OOC. And the devs haven't helped by their woefully weak job they have done at portraying the Dominion POV. We really have to dig deep to see that there is actually another POV in the game. | |} ---- It's the popular misconception that matters. Nobody cares what Satan theoretically is, it only matters how it's perceived by the masses. That's where the church comes in (no offense meant here). God is not an old man with a white beard highfiving man from a cloud either, but that's how he was pictured through centuries. People need a face to love or hate, it's easier to deal with that than abstracts. So the names Lucifer, Devil, Satan are kinda mashed together. But my point was that Satan is nothing compared to God. God by definition is omnipotent. Do you see demonic hordes roaming Earth like the Strain does on Nexus? Did God ask for our help to save creation? Drusera needs our help to deal with the Strain, or at least she thinks she needs it - while the christian God knows everything. He's omnipotent and all-knowing, Satan's fate is sealed by his plan, so he's nothing to be reckoned with. Some christians doesn't even beleive in Satan. And yes, a little offtopic, sorry.^^ I just wanted to point out that it might be arguable if it's a success to create something like the Drusentity... Edited February 22, 2016 by Strayhand | |} ---- That's what I meant when I said that the Dominion is working to the effect of their extinction, if not the intent. They're harvesting all the plant life on a forest planet whose native species lives on (and in) the plants and breathes oxygen. That will have the effect of making the planet uninhabitable for the aurin, whether or not any Dominion leader ever said to another Dominion leader, "let's kill them all." It's like this: if some horrible person stole your identity, emptied your bank account, maxed out all your credit cards and left you penniless and deep in debt, they might not have intended to financially ruin you; it's more likely they just wanted to get as much money as they could. The effect would still be your financial ruin. Regardless of the intent, they're guilty of bankrupting you. So the Vigilant Church preaches that the pantheon of gods used borrowed technology to combine a select few of their number into a gigantic monster that now threatens to destroy all life in the galaxy, or do they lie to the flock? The parallel I'm drawing between the Eldan and Lazarin is that their hubris destroyed them. They presumed to play God (or, in the case of the Eldan, to make one,) and that pursuit ruined them. Now it threatens to ruin everyone else as well. The monster they created will consume everyone and everything unless it's stopped. That is not immaterial. | |} ---- ---- Edited February 22, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- ---- ---- Source? As far as I know, this process has never been mentioned outside of Arboria. "In the space of a mere week three continents had been defoliated, with much of the resulting detritus already compacted into protein modules." They're not just cutting down trees; they're completely defoliating the planet. They're stripping the planet bare, right down to the dirt. - Bezgelor is not analogous. It was willingly destroyed by its own population. - The planet does not support life. It's a ruined world, and the Dominion supplies it in return for weapons. - The Dominion has not offered to do anything with the planet's atmosphere. It has made no attempt at diplomatic relations. It has not interacted with the inhabitants of Arboria on any level beyond delivering planet reapers to destroy the planet's surface. If you want to imagine that they'll leave some survivors there in the dirt and offer them machines to make their air breathable that's adorable, and not canon. The Drusentity isn't some kind of deliberately created balance between two opposing forces; it's a mistake, and far out of balance. Drusera herself tells the hero that she can't contain the Entity much longer, that she's been holding on for hundreds of years, but that she's failing. This isn't some perpetual struggle between good and evil; this is a failed experiment that created a system that cannot achieve equilibrium. The shit hits the fan right as you walk into the room, so unless you're going to pretend they're also precognitive on top of everything else, the Eldan screwed the pooch. They screwed every pooch in the galaxy, in fact, and the only reason the galaxy isn't currently being overwhelmed is because The Hero walked in just in time to stop the weaker, intentionally created portion of the Entity from being completely subsumed by the destructive byproduct. | |} ---- Doesn't godhood seem so petty when you put it that way ;) I'm not, because they aren't. There is no military force on Arboria, just the planet reapers and their guards. The strain can't leave Nexus without the aid of either the Exiles or Dominion now, nor can they control Nexus due to the exanite core (which is their kryptonite). Drusera and the Entity are not seperate beings, they are literally the same god. The only way the Entity could destroy Drusera is to destroy itself. Edited February 22, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- ---- There is no noise in space ;) | |} ---- Did you hear the latest NASA sound recordings? :P | |} ---- sound is the compression and expansion of gas molecules; space is a vacuum (essentially no molecules), ergo no sound ;) What you're probably reffering to are these http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/01nov_ismsounds/ Which are not sound, but are conversions of Electromagnetic Radiation (light) into sound. Really nifty, but not sound ;) | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- Nau, I also know you're a smart person. I don't need to remind you that in Wildstar the universe is made of primal energy, not chemistry, physics, and biology as we know it. Also, as a point of fact, trees and leafy plants are NOT the major source of Oxygen to our own atmosphere (they never have been). We owe our oxygen rich atmosphere to microrganisms (such as plankton). Leafy plants help, but their contributions are dwarfed by microrganism influences on global biogeochemistry. Specifically, around half of all photosynthesis is carried out by plankton alone, and the other half is a mix of photosynthesis by leafy plants, terrestrial photosynthetic microrganisms, and other land based organisms. And again, we are talking about a fictional universe where Space elf gods gave the Dominion technology to control a planets atmosphere (the very first thing Dominus does upon landing on Cassus is control the weather with nanites). There is no evidence that harvesting the forests on Arboria would kill everything on it... and considering the Dominion has more or less permanent outposts there now, they are not going to destroy the planet utterly. They seized arboria for both punishment, and to use the resources for the greater good of the Dominion, they wouldn't squander such a soil rich planet No it's like saying "completely deforesting the Amazon rainforest would not kill all life on Earth"... which it wouldn't.... as the Earth has spent hundreds of millions of years with plenty of life, but no Amazon rainforest. Edited February 23, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- ---- ---- ---- I never mentioned oxygen, but awesome strawman. As an ecologist by training, I am quite familiar with how significant an impact completely obliterating all surface ecosystems would have on a planet. The WildStar universe may have primal energies, but it also has ecosystems. And there is NO indication that those ecosystems are somehow magically immune to disruption when destroyed. But "completely destroying all harvestable organic material on Arboria" would definitely kill a significant portion of life on that planet. We are not talking about a single ecosystem. The Amazon rainforest is neither the only forest, nor the only system on Earth. ALL of Arboria is being consumed by the Dominion. This is ridiculous, Nazryn. Sometimes you make decent points, but I am completely baffled as to why you're trying to argue this one. Edited February 23, 2016 by Naunet | |} ---- ---- The writers who invented the situation based on cultural tropes and mores based in dualist religions. #Pappylicious You absolutely indicated oxygen. As that's the only physical reason removing a forest would potentially doom all life on an ENTIRE planet. We aren't talking about ECOSYSTEM destruction, we are talking about whether or not the AURIN will NECESSARILY be exterminated if the forests are harvested. Again, no where in the lore is it suggested the Dominion seeks to remove the entirety of the planets trees at the same time; and given they aren't literal idiots, its more reasonable they will harvest sections and then replant. Granted BOTH situations are speculation, one is more reasonable than the other. If you removed every terrestrial forest on Earth, all life would not die, and we (humanity) could still survive. Obviously it WOULD cause problems, but none that were insurmountable, and we have survived in much worse conditions through the Last glacial maximum and multiple previous glacial events. Arboria is not 100% forest. It has desert regions (where the sandthornes took their name from) and if we apply the physics of our universe it would also have oceans (a necessary source of perceptible water). If you take Wildstar's physics instead, than the forests are not necessary at all, as primal water and primal air do not come from forests or plants. Additionally, the Dominion is unable to harvest EVERYTHING. The reason they can't build factories is the soil is too deep; and as an ecologist, I don't need to explain to you the dominance of microrganisms on biogeochemical processes. The Dominion is not, and can't harvest the soil or the life inside it in a meaningful way, they are extracting the surface vegetation and mineral / soil resources to a limited depth. And all the while, the high primal life of Arboria would cause the forest to regrow behind the planet reapers, even if the Dominion wasn't replanting as they went. I'm a geochemist and oceanographer by training. If you wan't to talk about why the removal of forests would not render all life on a planet extinct is the case, come see me at the Ocean Sciences meeting in New Orleans this week (I'm presenting Friday, and would be happy to treat folks to chicory coffee and beignets). Spoiler Alert: I'm just going to point to the hundreds of millions of years when our planet had NO forests but was teeming with life, the Quaternary stadial periods where most plant life was suppressed, etc. If this is still not clear, the initial argument was that by harvesting Arboria's forests, the Aurin would NECESSARILY AND ABSOLUTELY be driven extinct. This relies on the assumptions that 1) the Aurin can't live outside a forest ecosystsm (False, see the sandthorns in malgrave) ; 2) that respiration would be impossible sans forest (False, Dominion manipulation of atmospheric process & the source of primal air =/= trees in W*); 3) the Dominion plans to remove all trees simultaneously, rather than harvest sections, while regrowing others (a more reasonable course of action than the former* Also should be noted that this is likely IMPOSSIBLE. Arboria is rich in primal life, and any harvested forest would regrow quickly behind the planet reapers even with out Dominion or Aurin intervention.. remember Fern Gully?) Edited February 23, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- That's correct - it's based on those stories. Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring is based on J. R. R. Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring, but the few details he changed transform the years-long, leisurely process of leaving the Shire into a tense chase sequence. Had the hobbits stopped to tell the rinwraiths to slow down because the influential source material says they're doing it wrong, they'd have been dead hobbits. Drusera told me I got there just in time to stop a galactic apocalypse. The balance of power and scope and pacing of the stories and mythologies that influenced the story are different than those of the story itself. Making some obtuse protest of the story based on its thematic roots doesn't change it. We're saving the galaxy from an Eldan mistake. | |} ---- No. I never said oxygen. I'm not going to debate this further when you are 1) clearly intent on putting words in my mouth, 2) refusing to understand the implications of ecosystem destruction beyond your fake oxygen issue, and 3) presenting an argument with extremely cherry picked information while deliberately misrepresenting the situation on Arboria. | |} ---- How would the Strain leave Nexus on its own? Eldan tech was exanite based; which the strain cannot interact with. If anything, the Exile's ending up on Nexus has put the rest of the galaxy in danger, as the strain can now leave the planet. Like I said, you indicated (aka implied) oxygen deprivation, because there is NOT OTHER WAY that forest removal would cause a sapient species to go extinct planet wide. There are no implications of forest loss on the Aurin NECESSARILY going extinct beyond that consideration. Aurin live in deserts, plains, and other non-forested regions of Nexus; ergo forests are not necessary for their survival. The Aurin prefer forests, but are not obligate forest dwellers. I have not cherry picked anything. I am pointing out that the assumptions the original claim was based on are false. The Aurin do NOT NEED forests to live, the Sandthorns live just fine in Malgrave. If you're so happy to dismiss the anoxia issue, then I am too because it's patently silly. And the idea that at ANY point in time would Arboria be completely devoid of forest is absurd. The reason there are such expansive forests on Arboria is that the planet has such high primal life. That primal life would cause harvested forests to regrow with exceptional speed (we see this in celestion, which is said to posess similar primal life levels to Arboria). The Dominion has yet to even reach the mother tree on Arboria, let alone harvest the full planet and it's already been just under a decade. While I would suggest the Dominion is likely replanting the forest as they go (not because they are tree huggers, but so they can re-harvest it in time), even if that was not the case, a forest on earth would have re-established already. There's no doubt with Arboria's extremely high primal life that the forests are not all just being harvested and then the massive, fertile soil layer is just sitting, full of seeds and pollen but doing nothing. | |} ---- How should I know? You said she was a god, created in her turn by other gods. I'm taking her word for it over your speculation based on your headcanon. That's an interesting assertion. Every species, sapient or otherwise that we're aware of has been driven to extinction by some other factor than oxygen deprivation (habitat destruction in a significant number of cases,) but please do share your thought process! | |} ---- TLDR: slowly harvesting trees on Arboria alone would not necessarily cause an Aurin extinction. They just don't like it very much. Edited February 24, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- Yeah.. they are my fav. | |} ---- ---- ---- Then please provide an alternative physical explanation. The Aurin do not require forests to live, they can and DO live in deserts, plains, coastal regions, and in every possible habitat on Nexus. Likewise, even Humans did not go extinct from "habitat" destruction during the LGM, and at that point we were far less developed than the Aurin were even pre-Exile contact. They now have traded technologies from the Exiles and already had a robust culture and society. They are not "stone age" sapients. Habitat destruction has never driven a sapient species extinct. Non-sapient and non-sentient organisms, yes, as they are neither self aware nor capable of adapting to changing conditions. That is not the case of the Aurin, who are extremely adaptable. I specifically said that I SUSPECTED that was the case, and then immedialty stated it was an unnecessary suspicion, as even WITH OUT Dominion intervention (and even assuming the Aurin are NOT also replanting forests) the forests ARE growing back. The High primal life of Arboria is what lead to the rapid and massive forest growth in the first place; and that primal life would necessarily continue to promote growth and regrowth of the forests. Even on Earth (with out primal life, and only real dynamics of ecological succession) forests we have clear cut have all re-established within a few years, let alone a Decade that its been since the Dominion started harvesting Arboria. We already KNOW the Dominion can't place substantial infrastructure to prevent the regrowth of forest on Arboria (because of the deep Soil, the chua can't build their massive factories, that's a verbatim quote from the timeline lore). So after harvesting, it's inevitable that the forests regrow. The Dominion is NOT CAPABLE of complete, simultaneous defoliation of the forests of Arboria. They haven't even harvested to the mother tree yet and they've been at it for just shy of a decade. Literally one of the first things Dominus does upon landing on Cassus is demonstrate Atmospheric control via nanites. This is 100% confirmed by lore, and the Dominion is not leaving Arboria anytime soon. If there were an issue with atmospheric chemistry (which there is not, primal air and primal water are not produced by trees in the W* universe as oxygen is in ours) the dominion could counteract it with ease. I absolutely am not fluffing anything, and the writers themselves disagree with your assertion here. The Dominion, in fact, is not painted as monsterous. They are painted as having firm rules and enforcing them for the greater good. Here is confirmation of that by CRB HernCO (of the writing / lore team): "The main conflict in the game is between the Dominion, who believe their gods (the Eldan) granted them the galaxy to rule in the name of peace, law, and justice; and the Exiles, who have banded together to oppose them - or just survive. The Dominion isn't inherently evil and the Exiles aren't inherently good, they just have opposing beliefs about what's best for the universe, and they feel very strongly about it." "Q:Before the ravaging, how much technology did the Exiles trade with the Aurin? Did they trade spellslinger guns or stalker nanites at all? A:Sure, they would have traded such things if they could be spared and if the Aurin were interested. Such things ended up being more evidence of their "treacherous dealings with the hated Exiles" when the Dominion discovered them. Meaning yes, in a way the Exiles making contact with Arboria led to its downfall..." - CRB HernCO http://bit.ly/1R6ZqJq http://bit.ly/1QFyBR6 As you can see, clearly the writers neither intend to portray nor feel they do portray the ravaging as a purely one sided act of villainy (but as one brought around by the naivete of Myala in aiding the Exiles while she was advised by Arwick not to). That's not to say the Dominion doesn't do many questionable and cruel things, they do; but so do the Exiles. Neither side are monsters (except Victor, who is a literal allegory to Shelly's Frankenstein and his monster). Immaterial; the Dominion has already been shown incapable of doing this, as even in a decade they haven't been able to deforest the planet; and the planet never stops growing, and the Dominion can't build major structures in the Arborian soil to stop all the harvested forest from growing back Edited February 25, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- ---- ---- All good points, but while the dominion may view the aurin as primitive (which to be fair they are), the Aurin do the same with Veggies. In CRB HernCO's lore drop on reddit he explained that the Veggies are sapient and sentient, and that it is actually meant to be very dark that the Aurin breed and slaughter them for food (breeding livestock is one thing, breeding self aware, thinking, emotionally feeling beings to be eaten is another). So yea, the Dominion does pride itself and its heritage, and some elements do look down on others; but they at least don't mass raise and slaughter sapient / sentient beings to be eaten. Likewise, the Lowborns don't "leave the Highborn" because they aren't slaves, nor are they oppressed. Yes, there are prejudices in the Dominion on both sides; but all members of the Dominion are cared for, recieve free education, healthcare, and are given a high (compared to the exiles) standard of living (including the lowborn). Yes the highborn have easy access to the wealth of their respective Luminai houses, and are very much priviledged; but the Lowborn can become as powerful or more so than the highborn through merit (e.g., see Toric Antevian, and Corrigan Doon). from CRB HernCO https://www.reddit.com/r/WildStar/comments/3ndihm/lore_questions_hit_me/ : "The Dominion takes care of its citizens, from the wealthiest highborn Cassian to the hardest-working lowborn. If people cannot provide for themselves, the Vigiliant Church is there to provide charity and the government itself might provide employment in public service or the military. That doesn't mean the biases, prejudices, and even corruption don't work their way into the system. These are still laws carried out by fallible beings. Well, except for the Mechari." Edited February 25, 2016 by Nazryn | |} ---- The extent of the sentience/sapience for Veggies seems like it's played for comedic effect in-game, even if it's a dark sort of comedy. I also don't recall thinking much of it because I could have swore I saw Exile and Dominion farms alike that grew and ate Veggies, so it didn't strike me as an Aurin-only thing. (Much in the same vein that I don't solely criticize the Dominion for their antics involving the indigenous races of Nexus, I've seen how both sides have dealt with the Falkrin for example.) As well, I was pretty sure I encountered at least one tribe of Draken early on that looked like they were killing and eating Aurin (at the very least they were hoarding their body parts for *something*). Sure, Chua get killed and eaten too (and manage to make it even darker comedy than the Veggies), but I recall it was by one of the said indigenous races, whereas I don't think I've come across Chua being eaten by Exiles (yet) or how Chua in general aren't terribly concerned about their mortality-rate anyway. So even when it comes to the whole "meat is literally murder" joke in this case, it seems the Dominion still found a way to one-up the Exiles. The dynamic with Highborn and Lowborn is hard to buy into because of the general issues that arise with any such caste system where priority of life is granted by birthright and money, not so much merit, as evident in that one quest-chain on Dominion side where a plague was running around and the Highborn got the initial batch of vaccines and inoculations while the Lowborn would be forced to wait on both. It's not the sort of situation that really feels "heroic" in the traditional sense of helping the down-trodden and whatnot. Edited February 25, 2016 by Dyxid | |} ---- A lot of the exile races see certain Dominion races in extremely similar ways. Granok see Chua in the exact same way. Edited February 25, 2016 by Mental Surge | |} ---- ---- they got the ten rats i bet | |} ----